I've been having a pretty good streak lately, so I'm so frustrated that I'm stuck on this one, especially with so little information filled in.

I assume that my answer lies somewhere in clues 6 and 7, though I cannot find it. I can usually make sense of clues like these when they have a common factor, but these clues do not! The only repeat factor is the frog, which appears in clue 3 and 6, but I still can't get any farther than I have. I've even cleared the grid and started over several times only to end up at the same place.

I'd appreciate help figuring out logically where to go next, rather than just the end result. Thanks!

JulieC

08-30-2013 12:49 PM

Let's look at the given fact that Malachi arrived on Friday (#5) and keep that in mind while we look at #7:

Quote:

7. Of the cat owner and the Hellboy fan, one is Eli and the other arrived on Monday.

Since (Malachi is not Eli) and (Malachi did not arrive on Monday), we know Malachi is neither the cat owner nor the Hellboy fan.

Let's do the same thing with #6:

Quote:

6. Of the Batman fan and Kylee, one arrived on Wednesday and the other owns a frog.

We know Malachi did not arrive on Wednesday, we know that Malachi does not own a frog, which satisfies both conditions on the right, so we know Malachi is neither the Batman fan nor Kylee (though that part is easy).

We have now eliminated every possibility for Malachi's fan-ness except Iron Man, so you have another green dot and some more Xs.

Let's look at #4:

Quote:

The Iron Man fan arrived the day after Christopher.

Malachi the Iron Man fan arrived on Friday, therefore, Christopher arrived on Thursday. Another green dot and more Xs.

Go back to #6 and look at the right side. Frog is Monday or Tuesday, the other clue is Wednesday, so X out the possibilities on the left for Thursday and Friday. This is just one new X, so Thursday is not the Batman fan.

Repeat that with #7. Same logic, so neither the cat owner nor the Hellboy fan is Thursday or Friday, so two more Xs and a green dot for Thursday being the Wolverine fan, which leads to more Xs.

zenobia43

08-30-2013 01:00 PM

Wow - that's a great puzzle with all those open cells.

Clues of the type seen in 6 and 7 are usually a gold mine of Xs.

Here's yet another way of extracting those Xs from those two clues.

Use clue 6 and your grid to prove that Batman and Kylie cannot be Thursday or Friday.

At the intersection of Wednesday and frog, you see that frog cannot be Thursday or Friday. That implies that the right side of clue 6 can never be Thursday or Friday.

Therefore, the left side of clue 6 can never be Thursday or Friday.

That gives you some more Xs.

Now do the same process for clue 7. Let's look at the left side first.

At the intersection of cat and Hellboy, you can see that cat can never be Batman. That means that the left side of clue 7 can never be Batman, and therefore the right side cannot be Batman either. The Eli/Batman and Monday/Batman intersections get X'd out.

Now look at the right side of clue 7.

At the intersection of Eli and Monday, we can see that Monday cannot be Malachi, and Eli cannot be Friday. That implies that neither cat nor Hellboy can be Malachi or Friday. Put those Xs in.

Now go back and check all the clues again, and with the extra Xs that have just been placed re-process clues 6 and 7 again so see if you can get the four positives from those clues.

I think JulieC's method will solve the puzzle quicker because it leads to the green dot positive relations quicker. The method I described here is more mechanical, and with experience, you can place those extra Xs on the first pass through the clues.

Hope that helps!

JulieC

08-30-2013 01:08 PM

Continued ... (fear of no save button ;))

Working the pet/fan grid, Xing out cat for Thursday and Friday, and we are left with only Spiderman for cat, so another green dot and more Xs.

Back to #7, which can be rewritten as "Of the Spiderman fan and the Hellboy fan, one is Eli and the other arrived on Monday." Only Spiderman and Hellboy can be Monday, so an X for Batman on Monday. Eli has to be either the Spiderman or Hellboy fan, which means an X for Eli and Batman, which gives a green dot for Dennis and Batman fan. More Xs.

Batman is not Monday, so Dennis is not Monday, which gives a green dot for Kylee and Monday, and more Xs.

Back to #6 ... Kylee is not Wednesday, so Kylee owns the frog, which means the Batman fan is Wednesday.